


To Our Youth, To Totga.

by tehbyulteh



Category: 15& (Band), DIA (Band), GOT7, NCT (Band), Oh My Girl (Band), PRISTIN (Band), SEVENTEEN (Band), SF9 (Band), 여자친구 | GFriend (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Boarding School, Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, Reunions, totga
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-14
Updated: 2017-08-26
Packaged: 2018-12-02 02:12:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11499600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tehbyulteh/pseuds/tehbyulteh
Summary: It's been eight years since we've left St. Anthony Science High School. We were eighteen back then. Right now, we're twenty-six. Most of us are working hard in our prime, some of us are planning to settle down. A few of us lost our way -- but we'll get back on the road, I hope, and one kept us all in touch. Our stories as Class 12 - St. Joseph the Worker, we'll hear it again today. December 17, eight years after our graduation, in this reunion party, where our theme is TOTGA. Speaking of totga, my totga just sent me a text right now to pick her up from the train station.





	1. Prologue: Para Sayo

**_**December 17.** _ **

A cold rainy day. But it is, indeed, a good day to meet up with old friends, including high school classmates. That day, or rather, __evening__ , in the heart of Manila, where the trains were buzzing, yelling which station will probably be next, most likely, Vito Cruz, the buses are screaming with their horns, filled with ___probinsyanos___ _ _[1]__ ready to come home to the south, a girl, with that casual attire and that no-make up look, standing with her crossed arms, probably waiting for a text message but others wouldn't know, she looks too passive for it. Tapping her feet, she saw the door open for more passengers, __La Sallistas__ _ _[2]__  who are heading up north for the weekends, like she is.

**_**_Heading north for the weekend._ ** _ **

It's been a month since she went up north to actually have fun. She was a north resident, other than the expressway, she has no troubles. She would, though, if it's already packed in the jeepney terminal, which is likely -- It's a Friday and it's almost five now. She hoped that she wouldn't reach the rush hour, but luckily, by the time she makes it to Monumento, her train stop, it's over. She quietly pleaded the gods.

"Approaching Monumento station." She gripped on the bag straps a little tighter and she squeezed herself out of the train car. She sighed as she prepared her beep card, the thing Seokmin prepared for her. She remembered how meticulously he stuck the strange sticker on her transportation card.

"Yuna!" **_**_Oh, speak of the devil_**_** , she noted. He was there, with his smile that made her smile, too, whenever she would see it. Yuna smiled brightly as she approached him.

"Should we go now?"

Seokmin nodded and led her out of the station. "Alrightly, leggo."


	2. Story 1.1 - Rowoon, the Social Butterfly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 1 of Rowoon, the social butterfly's TOTGA story wherein he falls for the new kid, Kim Minkyung. We will find out if his meaning of TOTGA is the same way the other kids interpret it.

****Café Nenzo, Meycauayan City, Bulacan.** ** ****Δ** ** ****December 17.** **

After driving from the train station to the restaurant up north, Yuna got out of the car and looked around. In her memory, this place changed a lot. This was the place where they played around and ate out as children. I ** _ ** _t's been eight years, after all. Of course it had to change_**_**. She told herself.

**_**_But this place is still here, funny._ ** _ **

The restaurant, Cafè Nenzo. The place where they used to eat after their exams. The food was not that expensive, nor was it too cheap. They were students back then, it was just enough to fit in their allowances. Entering the restaurant wasn't a hard task for them either. It was reserved for them that night, just for that night.

**_**_"St. Anthony Science High School batch of 2017 reunion: TOTGA"_**_**  Yuna smiled as she saw those words again. St. Anthony Science High School. Familiar faces soon showed up, greeting her and Seokmin. Some, she could vaguely remember. Some, she could remember them a lot. Some, she's seen multiple times, like that kid who lived right next to her for a long time now, Jung Jaehyun. Or maybe that one who she has no choice but to meet, Kim Mingyu, but the tall guy still hasn't arrived. She and Seokmin greeted almost everyone in the room until they sat down on a table of their own, their names written on the chairs, with three or four more people.

Seokmin can't help but notice the banner once more. "Totga, huh?" He sneaked a glance at Yuna, who he thinks is probably thinking about Totga, too. "Yuna, hey."

She snapped out of her thoughts and looked back at him. "Yeah?"

"Totga. Do you have a totga story?" He asked her with curiosity. They've known each other for like, thirteen years now, but this might be the first time they've talked about it, Totga, I mean.

"Of course, who doesn't?" She sighed as she saw another alumni enter. He looks like he came from the bathroom, and his eyes and Yuna's met.

"Lexo / Rowoon!" The pair chorused, making the man chuckle in delight as he went to his two old friends, smiling. He first went to hug Seokmin then after him, he went to hug Yuna a little more tighter than of Seokmin's.

Seokmin, though, shot a glare at Yuna. "You still call him Lexo?"

"Shut it, he like it when he's called with his Catholic name." Rowoon, or Lexo, just chuckled at the bickering of his two friends.

"You two still bicker a lot." He shook his head and crossed his arms.

"Hey, sit first, Mingyu's probably still in his house, picking a suit." Yuna told him so Lexo just sat down on the seat with the name 'Mingyu'. The latter was undeniably good-looking, even for Yuna, who, without a doubt, has an eye for visuals. His face radiated, but his slouch was also evident, something, that maybe did not change even after eight years. "How are you, Lexo?"

"It's Rowoon, Yuna." Seokmin contradicted her once more, making him earn another glare from the girl.  "If you want to call Rowoon by his Catholic name, then at least call him Alexander. Where did your manners go?"

"Alexander is too long and Rowoon is too boring." She scoffed then she crossed her arms and smiled widely as she looked back at  Lexo. "So the theme for this party is Totga, huh?"

"Don't blame me, I only did the reservation, Cheng Xiao is like, the mastermind behind this." He noted, throwing a constant side glance over at Seokmin who was waiting for the tea about this Totga of theirs. "I read your latest book, Yuna. It was good. Is the main character your Totga?"

Seokmin glanced over at Yuna once more. "You had a person inspiration for that character?"

Yuna, taken aback, glared at both of them. "Excuse me, this person you're talking to is not taking in boys for inspiration. I'm way past that age." She crossed her arms. “Is your Totga appearing tonight?”

Seokmin honestly looked curious, too. “Is she, is she?” The three just stared at each other, until a bitter, well, maybe semi-bitter smile formed from Lexo’s lips.

“I guess.” He shrugged.

“I’m curious, though.” Yuna crossed her legs, although the males didn’t see it, Seokmin probably just felt it, they were right next to each other, after all. “What really happened, Lexo? You definitely liked **_**_Minkyung_**_** , though.”

“Mingyu liked her, too.”

Seokmin rebutted, “Nah, Minkyung shot him down by not replying on his texts.” And he smiled widely right after. “Minkyung shot both of you down!”

Lexo nodded. “She was the total epitome of totga.” He sighed. “She was perfect, like pretty, nice and sweet but she shot every guy who came at her down.” He heaved another heavy sigh. “But, yeah, she was my totga.”

 

* * *

 

****Kim Ro Woon / Alexander “Lexo” Kim | 12 - St. Joseph the Worker** **

****Rainy Season (July) 2017, Monday** **

****

The rain dropped as Rowoon ran from his house to the school. He can literally walk from his house to the school, it was not that far, but the rain made it harder for him to run. He saw some of the kids coming off from their cars, some were sent by their worried parents who are frustrated as to why they still need to send their kids to school when it’s raining hard. Some kids were dropped off with umbrellas over their heads. __Lucky them.__ Rowoon can only snicker as he saw this new girl. He’s never seen her before, but she looks old enough to be a senior. He shrugged then passed through the gate. Some military trainee students were there, inspecting their uniforms.

“ ** _ _Baston__** _ _ **[1** ].” __One of them called Rowoon out as he looked down on his pants. __Oh fuxx, I wore the wrong pants.__ He sighed as he went to the line, where he had to write down his name for disciplinary action. After that, he went through the rain-proof parts of the school until he reached his classroom, which took him about five minutes.

As it was a Monday, most kids still have big bags with them. Majority of them went home for the weekends, not him, though. Even though St. Anthony is a boarding school, students who live super-nearby are practically exempted from the boarding law. He looked over at Choi Yuna, who was rummaging her messy closet with Lee Seokmin looking over at her, obviously a little annoyed. Rowoon would sit on the front seat, so he dropped his bag over his seat and he went to the duo.

“What’s with her?” Rowoon asked Yuna.

“Lexoooo~” Yuna stood up, with her pleading-almost-crying face. “I think my math notebook is missing.” Rowoon groaned as he glanced over at Seokmin.

“Didn’t you lend it to Eunbi or Mingyu last week? Mingyu’s gonna fail if he doesn’t copy your notes, though.”

“This is why I photocopy your notes, Yuna.” Seokmin snickered then he smiled widely, jokingly poking on her sore spot. “And this is why you shouldn’t lend notes easily especially when --” As Seokmin was leaning on the wall and automatically facing the wall, he could see the door --

 

And who’s entering. He pointed at Rowoon immediately, and the latter responded by looking over at who is it. They both made a face when they saw Mingyu, the tallest, ultimately, in the class, enter the classroom with two ladies by his side. Yuna saw this, too and she groaned the loudest. “Oh dear heavens, be good to Mingyu.” She noted with evident sarcasm. The girls parted with Mingyu and he went up to his friends with a cheeky smile, showing his sharp canine teeth, his charming point, according to himself. “So the reason why you left home late is to get some girls? I pray that you won't get someone pregnant by the time we're twenty.” 

Mingyu pouted and scoffed. He was obviously not offended, he's used to her like this, after all, they've been friends for six years now. According to him, ever since his visual topped and raised their squad,  ** _ ** _The Originals'_**_** average visual, Yuna started teasing him. But in reality, Yuna just began messing with him because he's such a huge clutz. He looked at her locker with a raised brow. “Why is your locker such a mess, Yuna?” 

“She’s been looking for her Math notebook since the 20th century. Help her before she loses her mind.”  Seokmin just went and shook his head, then he went to his seat, which was just right in front of the lockers.  

"Hold up, Yuna. I have it, oh my." Mingyu opened up his bag and began looking for it. Yuna growled a little then closed her locker shut.  

"Wow, Mingyu. Did you know that I was about to lose my sanity just now?"  

Mingyu smiled brightly, showing off his canine teeth once more. "Wow, that would be fun." He went back to looking for it into his bag. He ran through it and Rowoon just smirked at the two.  ** _ ** _Well, what’s new?_**_** He also left the two before he gets in trouble between them, which was likely to happen. He went to his seat and brought out his phone. He opened his snapchat. 

His snapchat isn’t that private – Rowoon is highly sociable. He has friends in his class, but he also has friends outside the class. He used to have a girlfriend, too. He looked around, looking for her. 

 

His ex-girlfriend. Kim Jiho. “ ** _ ** _Huy.”_**_**  He snapped out of his thoughts when another classmate called him out. Ahn Eunjin. Known for her dance, her smile also beamed as she met Rowoon’s eyes. “You okay?” 

Rowoon nodded. “Of course, I am.” 

**_**_“Aguy_**_** ** _ ** _[2]_**_** but you’re staring over at Kim Jiho again.” She teased him. Everyone knows, of course. He still likes her. Of course, it hasn’t been long since their relationship ended, and the cracks of their relationship, of course, still hasn’t been mended yet. To Rowoon, of course, he still hasn’t moved on . “Stop it.”

“Why, are you planning to move me to you now?” He joked, and Eunjin just sighed then rolled her eyes. The bell rang, an indication that class is about to start. The kids all went to their seats, even those who were messing at the back went to their respective seats, too. Rowoon, on the other hand, just straightened his back and tapped Eunjin to face the front,, as well. When they all settled down, the teacher entered, making the kids stand up and greet. The class president, Lee Jihoon, also likely the smallest one, cleared his throat.

“Greet.” With Jihoon’s leadership, the students bowed, “Praised be Jesus and Mary.”

“Now and forever.” Their homeroom teacher, Lee Minhyuk, is believably small, too, for a guy, but he had this bright red hair that he didn’t dye even though all the nuns and priests call him out for it everytime they see him. After the adviser’s return of greetings, everyone sat down and he cleared his throat. “Jihoon, who’s our class secretary?”

Jihoon stood up then pointed to the right side with his hand. “It’s Roseanne.” After informing him, he sat down.

The adviser glanced at the girl on the right side. She had her hair tied up and she was quite tall, considering that she’s sitting straight, as well. “Roseanne, please get the class list.” Roseanne nodded and stood up to get it from the locker. He groaned and mumbled, “The school is making our work extra hard.”

“Hm? Why is that, Mr. Lee?” Eunjin asked.

He sighed, then his voice became louder. “Come in.” Everyone’s attention went to the front door, and Rowoon’s eyes and jaw dropped at the entrance of a girl. The girl is familiar to him, like he’s seen her even before. “Minkyung, introduce yourself.”

“Hello, I’m Kim Minkyung from 12th grade, St. Catherine of Siena.” She bowed politely and the class nodded -- they were the star section, after all. One mistake can kick you out of the class, and once one is kicked out, another will be a replacement for the lost member. A week ago, one star section member got into a fight, but that’s a story to be mentioned next time.

But well, Rowoon was charmed.

It wasn’t just him, though.

Everyone in the class were.

* * *

****Café Nenzo, Meycauayan City, Bulacan.** ** ****Δ** ** ****December 17.** **

 

 “Hold up, Lexo. You mean, you guys didn’t meet before? You and Minkyung?” The after-eight-years Yuna asked Lexo, who was more known as Rowoon back then. These days, he chose to embrace his Catholic name over his actual Korean name. “I mean, the girls and I knew her from the dorm. She used to be Eunbi’s roommate back at 10th grade.”

Seokmin nodded. “I also think she’s fairly popular. Mingyu liked her back at 11th grade.”

Yuna groaned. “Mingyu liked everyone.”

“I’m certain that I didn’t like you, though.” A deep voice resounded through the room. The three all looked behind them, only to find their tall friend smiling, with a girl next to him. He, as mentioned earlier, is very tall. He has the canine teeth that he was so proud about since high school, and his face was indeed, beautiful. He's wearing a suit, although it’s quite understandable as he might’ve came from work like everyone else. The girl with him is also very beautiful. She was wearing a cream-colored dress, and her hair reaches her waist. She has a beautiful smile on her face, and it literally screams of elegance. “I swear I didn’t like Yuna.”

“Mingyu, Dawon!” They chorused as they went to hug the two newcomers. One by one, they gave their hi and hellos, then they soon sat down to their respective seats, with Lexo moving to another seat with Jaehyun written on it.

“Gyu, you dyed your hair to black? Last week it was still grey.” Lexo asked then Mingyu touched his hair.

“Yeah, it was getting dim.” He smiled widely. “So what did we miss?”

“Lexo was just getting to the story of him and Minkyung and their bad ending.” Seokmin answered. “Dawon, you look nice.”

“When did she not?” Lexo smiled then he threw a wink at Dawon but she just smiled back at him. Then, the girl remembered something.

“Hold up, you two were a sad story? I thought no one can top Yuna’s, though.” Dawon suddenly asked, making Yuna flush in embarrassment.

She tugged on Dawon’s arm and glared. “Have you missed running?”

“Oh, this is the first time you told me to run.”

Lexo groaned, “Am I not gonna finish my story?”

The two ladies stopped playing around and focused back at Lexo. “So okay, let’s go back to that time. What happened, like, how did you two get close?” Seokmin asked on everyone’s behalf.

“I don’t know about you guys, but it was Dawon who was our bridge, right?” Lexo looked over at Dawon.

It took her a while to load and when she remembered what it was, she went, “I was!”

 

* * *

****Kim Ro Woon / Alexander “Lexo” Kim | 12 - St. Joseph the Worker** **

****Rainy Season (July) 2017, Thursday** **

****

The clock strikes twelve – lunchtime. Some kids either went to their dorm’s canteen, stayed in the classroom or just went to the cafeteria in the first floor. Rowoon always went for the second option. He chilled with the other students who remained in the classroom. Today, he sat on the platform with another student, known for her brains and sass, Nam Dawon, as she does her homework on the teacher’s table – weird. Even for Rowoon, seeing her doing that is strange. “Yeah, Dawon, you’re sitting here again?”

“Yeah.” She glanced at him. “Changkyun spilled his water from the bottle again.”

Rowoon glaced at the noted guy who was sleeping on top of the devan. The devan is a long, wooden cabinet used to store the cleaning materials. And sometimes, for sleeping students as well. He just shook his head then he looked back at Dawon. “What are you doing?”

“Homework. If that’s anything fancy for you.” She answered with evident sarcasm in her tone. The eighteen-year-old Dawon was always like that, stern when she’s doing her work, but friendly with she’s done with it. “Rowoon, go and mess with someone else for a while.”

But before Rowoon was able to say anything, a hyped Mingyu entered the room. Bright and happy with his canine teeth, he went over to Dawon and smiled brightly at her. “Dawon-ah! Let’s get lunch!” Rowoon looked at him with despair. **_**_You’re doomed._**_** Rowoon’s eyes told him. Mingyu raised a brow but when he looked over at Dawon, who shut her notes close, and he met her scary eyes. “Or maybe not?”

“Mingyu, make sure that I’ll never catch you at the lunch table.” She brought her notes and then she pulled Mingyu out of the room. Rowoon just mentally facepalmed as he noticed that Dawon forgot her phone on the table. He picked it up and groaned.

“How can she forget her phone, though?” He sighed but as he went off to follow them, he bumped with someone by the door, making him look at the person he bumped into. “Sorry.” He apologized.

“No, I’m sorry.” He looked at her in the eye and he realized who it was –

New girl **_**_Minkyung._**_** Admittedly, there are lots of beautiful girls in their class, but Minkyung stood out. Probably because she’s the tallest – she can meet Mingyu’s height and they wouldn’t look awkward with it. She was insanely beautiful in Rowoon’s eyes. “Uh, yeah.” **_**_Bad move, Rowoon. Take two._**_** “Have you eaten lunch?”

She smiled politely and then nodded. “Yes, I have. Are you going down? I can come with you, if you want.”

Rowoon smiled widely and then he thought, **_**_Thank Dawon._**_**

* * *

****Café Nenzo, Meycauayan City, Bulacan.** ** ****Δ** ** ****December 17.** **

Dawon raised a brow at Lexo’s story. “Wait, so you two got close because of my phone? I thought there was another story.”

Lexo raised a brow in return and then thought for a second he went through all his memories for a while. It took him five minutes of silence to remember -- “Oh, right! The cleaning time.” He pointed at Mingyu who was just munching on his food. “You were there, too!”

“I was?” He asked, raising his head with question in his eyes. “When was that?”

“Eight years ago.” Dawon answered as she took a sausage from Mingyu’s plate. “Kudos to Chengxiao, the sausage is good.”

Mingyu shot her a short glare then stood up. “Should I get you some more?”

She pulled on his suit and motioned him to sit back down. “No, sit. We have to listen to Lexo’s story.”

Lexo cleared his throat as Mingyu sat back down. “Alrighty, now how did we get close? I have to tell you all the story of the Saturday monthly cleaning day. You guys know I don’t do dorm cleaning but damn, Nam Dawon.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [1] Baston - A way the ends of pants are sewn wherein it's commonly referred to as slim fit. This type of cut is usually not allowed in Catholic High Schools  
> [2] Aguy - A lingo way of saying "ouch"


	3. Chapter 2: Story 1.2 Minkyung, who loved

**_Chapter 2: Minkyung, who loved._ **

**_Part 2:_**  

 ** _Kim Ro Woon / Alexander “_** ** _Lexo_** ** _” Kim | 12 - St. Joseph the Worker_**  

 ** _Rainy Season (July) 2017, Saturday_**  

Rowoon is not playing games anymore. He doesn’t live in the dorms  ** _BUT WHY DOES HE HAVE TO BE CLEANING THEM?_** “Come on, Rowoon, it’s your last year in St. Anthony, it’s gonna be fun.” Mingyu cheered him up, although the latter doesn’t seem to be enthusiastic about it, either. 

“Why do I need to be here, again?” Rowoon sighed. “I’m exempted from this dorm rule but I have to clean the dorm?” 

Mingyu smiled shyly, “Well, I have to be honest that I lost a bet with Dawon, which is the sole reason why we’re gonna be cleaning today.” 

Rowoon shot a glare at Mingyu, “Did you have to put me through this?” 

“Thank me after this, okay?” 

“Why--” Rowoon was cut off from his speaking when he saw Dawon and Minkyung descending from the stairway of their dorm. “Oh.” He rolled his eyes at Mingyu, who was smirking playfully. He’s still wondering however the hell do these two get along so well. “Hey, Minkyung.” He greeted her. She smiled beautifully, making his heart race faster than it should. It’s too early for this, he told himself. Maybe it’s too early for this. The three-month rule just ended yesterday. Him falling for Minkyung this easily is off.  

Mingyu nudged him with a smile and he winked. “Get closer, okay?” 

“Gyu, let’s get toilet bowl cleaners from Yuna and Seokmin.” Dawon called him out and Mingyu just nodded and winked at Rowoon once more. “Start with Minkyung’s room, okay?” Both Rowoon and Minkyung nodded as Dawon and Mingyu left the two of them together. Minkyung led Rowoon to her dorm room and Rowoon was frankly astonished as to how cute her room looks like. It’s huge and perhaps, a little too huge. He got the idea that she might be a family VIP, too.  

“There’s literally nothing to clean here, Minkyung.”  

The girl smiled at the almost-compliment Rowoon noted. “I need to organize some files.” 

Rowoon nodded and then he began with her shelf. It’s big, and there are multiple books, some albums from known bands, and stuffed toys. “Are you gonna laundry the toys?” 

She shook her head then he decided to begin cleaning up her shelf. He looked over at her. Her face and overall appearance yells of grace. Honestly, her smiles took him and he thinks it’s too beautiful. “Rowoon, you’ve been staring at me for a while now.” 

 ** _Oops._** He told himself.  ** _How nice,_** ** _Rowoon_** ** _._** “I was just wondering on how on earth are you so beautiful.” 

Minkyung, refusing to take a hint, answered flatly, “Really now?” 

“That’s honest, though.” And after that, Minkyung didn’t speak as she continued organizing her shelf. “Should we get to know each other?” He asked. “What do you want to know about me?” 

Minkyung is obviously not having it. She may or may not be annoyed, but she certainly is not taking his advances. She decided that the best way to get her out of that mess is through changing the subject. Which reminds her,  ** _Kim Jiho._** “Kim Jiho.” Well, that hit Rowoon’s spot.  

Rowoon was actually, still sensitive about Jiho. Jiho was beautiful. She’s so beautiful to Rowoon that he thinks she can exceed Jung Chaeyeon, the prettiest girl in class.  

Until recently though. 

A month before the start of classes, which was three months ago, Jiho asked for a breakup. Rowoon was heartbroken. She shattered his heart faster than a certain sharp-dancing girl group ever made a comeback. To her, their story has already ended. To him, he still hopes for it.  

Maybe, he thought. 

“I’m sorry, did I hit the wrong note?” She tried asking nicely. She knew that she might have hit the wrong spot. 

Rowoon smirked. “Minkyung, you sounded so honest.” He smiled sadly. “What do you want to know about her?” 

“ ** _Everything._** Tell me your story.” 

 

*** 

 **Café** **Nenzo** **, Meycauayan City,** **Bulacan** **.** **Δ** **December 17.**  

“Ayy, so that’s how you got close.” Yuna said as Seokmin served her second plate of tempura. “Thanks. Is this shrimp or crab?” She asked him. 

“Crab. Eat up.” He said as he sat down on his seat again and Yuna began eating once more. “What part of the story did I miss?” 

Mingyu raised his arm a bit. “You frankly didn’t miss anything because you knew all of the stories.” He looked around, searching for someone. “Where is Yoonoh? He’s supposed to get here before us, but we’re near the end of Lexo's story but his arrival is taking him too long.” 

* _ting!*_  A phone got a text, knowing that it was hers, Yuna picked it up from the table and read the message. She smirked and groaned, “Oh, just as we were talking about him.” 

“What did Yoonoh say?” Rowoon asked while munching on his food. Yuna showed the whole conversation to the rest of them. Lexo raised a brow when he saw Yoonoh’s nickname. “Yoonoh Airasia? Nice nickname. Do you nickname us with the companies we’re with?” 

Yuna smiled mischievously. “Of course not. Just these guys.” She said, noting Mingyu, Dawon and Seokmin. The three just smirked, also smiled in return. “Anyway, Lexo, what happened next? Why is she your TOTGA?” 

“ ** _She didn’t give us a shot._** ” Mingyu just sat there, suddenly quiet and thinking. Thinking of what could have been, if he said it. 

 ** _If he told them._**  

He shook his head and told himself,  ** _This is fate’s doing, not mine._** He smiled sadly as he saw her enter the restaurant. 

 ** _Minkyung_** ** _._**  

She got prettier. Her height still, in an impactful part of her, but she’s gotten insanely pretty after the years. The people on the table all stood up and hugged her, giving her a smile, saying ** _kamusta_** ** _[1]_** here and there, casually greeting the other kids from the other classes, too. Lexo just stared at her and smiled. "Hey." She greeted Yuna's group with a wide smile. 

Then she and Lexo finally locked eyes. "Oh, you came? I thought you won't, though?" Lexo greeted her. "I was so confident on telling the others our story, oh why did you suddenly appear?" He sat down after greeting her, while she remained standing, seeing that only the seat next to Lexo is unoccupied, and her seat is located on another table, most likely with her actual squad.  

"Aren't you gonna sit on your own seat?" She asked, quite sarcastic, but still in a joking manner. "Anyway, if it's our story," She glanced at Mingyu. "Then you can't leave  ** _that part_** out, right?" She smiled, obviously throwing it at Mingyu. He gulped and then he broke their eye contact.  

*** 

 ** _Kim Ro Woon / Alexander “_** ** _Lexo_** ** _” Kim | 12 - St. Joseph the Worker_**  

 ** _Cold Season (October) 2017, Tuesday_**  

Months passed and it’s finally the most-awaited semestral break. Every student at St. Anthony is looking forward to this vacation. It’s that once a year one week vacation before the second semester starts. Rowoon though, is not fond of this. Other than the fact that he can play games the whole day or sleep late, there’s nothing fun about his situation. As the other kids head somewhere else up north or down south, he’s stuck in his house. He heaved a heavy sigh as he helped Minkyung carry her boxes of books, maybe, as they looked a lot heavier than what they always are.  

Rowoon and Minkyung have gotten really close since three months ago. At this point, Rowoon even enjoys cleanup days. Plus, he’s been very vocal with his feelings. Of course, the dude likes her a lot. It’s to the point of courtship now, but still informal courtship. He hasn’t announced it to the world yet.  

Her father, with her little sister, picked her up at the school gates. Rowoon helped her pack everything before she comes home. As he was finished with the last box, Minkyung came out of the gates with her handbag and casual dress. “Thank you, Rowoon.” 

Rowoon smiled and shook his head. “No biggie, Minkyung.” He smiled brightly and she returned it with a gentle one, much different from the smiles she used to give him three months ago.  

She stared at him for a bit then she shrugged, quite sad that she had to leave so soon. “Uh, so, I’ll be going now?”  

Rowoon nodded and said, “Yeah. See you in November.” Then he remembered something. He brought out his phone and opened the camera. “Let’s take a selca. I’ll put it on my kakao as my profile photo.” 

Minkyung smiled widely and shook her head in amusement as she and Rowoon posed for a photo. The click sound was heard, but Minkyung had to depart now. They said their goodbyes and Minkyung, finally, left. Rowoon smiled happily as he changed his kakao profile photo with their selca. However, as Minkyun's father's car disappeared slowly to the highway, a small figure approached him with a sad smile. "Rowoon." She called for him, with her slightly deep monotonous voice being so familiar to him. 

“Jiho.” He answered, meeting her eyes after a long time.  ** _Time heals all wounds, they say._** What a myth it is for Rowoon. “Why?” He tried asking, nicely, in his vocabulary. 

“Is Minkyung the new one now?” 

Rowoon nodded as he broke eye contact with her. “I’ve let you go now, Jiho. Please be happy with Changkyun.” He smiled sadly, as the remnants of their past came back to him, how they used to be so happy back then, how she smiled at him when they saw each other. He sighed as he decided to finally, 

Finally let go of the rope. 

She looked away and said, “Why did this have to happen just when I wanted you back?” 

Rowoon’s eyes went wide as he heard her say these words. “What?!” 

“Forget it.” Jiho smiled. “Please be happy with her.” Her smile turned to a bitter smile then she left him. 

Rowoon smiled. Maybe a little happy, but definitely not scornful. “I’ll be happy, Jiho. Please be happy, too.” 

“Yes.” Dull, she moved away, leaving him alone with his smug smile. 

Finally, he said. 

***

 ** _Nam Da Won | 12 - St. Joseph the Worker_**  

 ** _Cold Season (October) 2017, Wednesday_**  

Oh no. Dawon groaned as her latest photoshop edit isn’t that satisfying. As a big fan of a thirteen-membered group, she had to have this great perseverance in order to finish her project. Sighing, she turned her PC off then she went to her bed, dropping heavy sighs here and there.  

* _bzzt_ _*_ Her phone vibrated from the headboard of the bed. She picked up her phone and found four missed calls from Mingyu and five unread texts from him, as well. She waited for a few seconds, then her phone rang again, then she picked it up. “Gyu, what’s up? We’ve only been far from each other for less than twenty-four hours, what’s up?” 

“Twitter drama at Twitter right now!” Dawon stood up, then eventually sat down on her PC once more. She clicked the mouse twice then the screen flashed back open. She clicked on Chrome then opened her Twitter account. “You on Twitter now?” 

“I am. What drama are you talking about, Gyu?” 

“Uh, open up Jiho’s account, alright? I’ll call you later.” He ended their call, then she placed her phone on the table next to the keyboard and Dawon went to look over at Jiho’s account. 

 ** _What the heck?_** Dawon cursed at the back of her mind.  ** _What exactly the heck is this?_** She opened her phone and then called Mingyu almost as quick as she can. “Hello, it’s me.” 

“Have you seen it?” 

She nodded, knowing that he doesn’t see her, she said, “Yeah, and what is wrong with Jiho?” She groaned and she frowned as she re-read everything Jiho tweeted for the past hour. “ ** _@MinKyung97, I heard you’re the new girl. Congrats, I hope you don’t hurt him the way I did.~_** Is Kim Jiho out of her damned mind? This can affect her class standing!” She bit her lower lifp. “And Rowoon and Minkyung! Oh, god!”

“I’ll call Rowoon about it.” _*ting!*_ Dawon and Mingyu both heard a notification pop up from both of their laptops and computers. “Oh it just got worse as Luda officially joined the battle. Stay tuned for the next episode of Mean Girls.”

Dawon wanted to laugh at Mingyu’s sudden joke, but she had to keep her eyes on the twitter drama right now. No time for Mingyu and his jokes. Dawon began scrolling through her tweet list, looking for more tweets directed to the current relationship of Rowoon, Minkyung and Jiho. “Replying to Jihoxx, **_Huh? What do you mean lol. We’re just friends!_** Oh my god, this is so freaking annoying!”

“I should’ve told them.” Dawon heard Mingyu say, catching her attention.

“What do you mean?”

“Come out, please. I need to tell you something.”

 

***

 ** _Choi Yu Na | 12 - St. Joseph the Worker_**  

 ** _Cold Season (November) 2017, Friday_**  

After an insanely crazy weekend for all of them – the twitter drama as the central particle of the break, though, they all went back to the dorms on the third of November, three days before school resumes once more. Yuna, with her roommate, Dawon, sat on her bed while Eunbi, another member of the Originals, the noisiest circle of friends in their batch, sat on Dawon’s bed. “Really, can things get worse, though? Jiho might get a section transfer at this point. She started it.” Yuna reasoned.

But Dawon disagreed. “Jiho is the director’s daughter, though. The teachers might turn a blind eye for her.”

“Just like Yeonjoo’s case?” Eunha asked, disappointed but not surprised.

 _“Just like Yeonjoo’s case.”_ The boys, Mingyu, Seokmin and Yoonoh all entered the bedroom with ice cream and food in their hands. They sat down either on the floor or next to Eunha and passed the plastic bag around.

“The teachers will probably let it slide, like, you know, not let Jiho pay for it. It’s been spreading all throughout campus now.” Yoonoh, the guy who was wearing a red jacket, notably Mingyu’s, noted. “We were in the convenience store and even the college part-timers were talking about it!”

“Well, who wouldn’t find that scene intense, though?” Yuna said as she took a bite from her burger. “Seokmin, please put the ice creams in the fridge. I can’t have melted ice cream in this room, alright?”

Seokmin nodded, stood up, took the bag of ice cream and stashed it into the fridge. Just as he was about to sit down, a loud banging on the door grabbed his attention, and also his feet. He needed to go to the door to open it, so he did. What’s more shocking is it’s Kim Jaehwan – who lives in the floor above them. “Yah, come out, Kim Jiho’s gone crazy!”

Intrigued, the squad all went out to the halls and saw the fight.

Kim Jiho and Kim Minkyung. Jiho had her arms crossed while Minkyung was holding her cheek. Yuna’s eyes widened. **_Minkyung was slapped._** “What the hell are you still standing here for?!” Seokmin, with Yuna and Mingyu trailing behind him, followed him out of the crowd and to meddle between Jiho and Minkyung. Seokmin stood between the two people while Yuna stood behind him. “Have you two gone crazy?! Are you forgetting that you two are A-section students? Your class standings are gonna be doomed if the teachers find out about this!” He threw a shade to Jiho. “This includes you! You can’t get away like last time, Jiho. I told you, when you kicked Yeonjoo out, I got my eyes on you.”  Jiho wiped the sweat off her forehead and growled. Her face expresses only annoyance and irritation. She obviously dislikes Minkyung now, while Minkyung still holds on her slapped cheek. “Yuna, bring Minkyung to the infirmary. Mingyu, call Rowoon and please tell him to settle these things with Jiho, like, please.”

 

***

The same day, Yuna, who was passing by the cafeteria, noticed that Rowoon went to the cafeteria, where Jiho was waiting for him. She sat nearby, seeing him smiled sadly, still trying to make the kindness in him brighten despite the rift she’s probably going to make. “Hey.” He greeted her as he sat down. “I heard about what happened.” She looked at him then looked down. “Are you alright?” He asked nicely.

She nodded. “I am, but I know you want to go to Minkyung, so I guess I’m not.”

He smiled sadly once more and admitted, “Yes, I do. I do want to join her right now. She may be crying or sad, or disappointed, maybe she doesn’t feel anything at all now.” He bit his lower lip. “But I know she doesn’t want to see me now.” He glanced at her. “Sorry for finding someone before you did.”

Yuna thought, **is it wrong to love already after a breakup? Is it such a sin?** She walked past the ex-couple and went straight to the infirmary as she saw Minkyung bawl her eyes out. **It wasn’t just Rowoon who loved. Minkyung loved as much as Rowoon did.** Dawon was there, caressing Minkyung and comforting the poor girl.

In love, looks like someone has to lose, after all.

***

 **Café** **Nenzo** **, Meycauayan City,** **Bulacan** **.** **Δ** **December 17.**  

“Eyyy!” Everyone exclaimed as they were reminded of that day when everyone talked about that twitter mess.

Lexo smiled. “But I guess it ended well, right? I mean Minkyung and I didn’t get an ending that we wanted that time, but now, we’re living happily, right?”

The rest nodded and chuckled, then Mingyu asked, “What happened back then? Like what happened to Minkyung and Jiho? They weren’t demoted, right?”

“We got demerits, but that was alright.” Everyone nodded, and she glanced at Mingyu. They made eye contact and smiled at each other. She low key thanked him. If he didn’t do **_that,_** she wouldn’t meet the man of her life now. “Mingyu, be happy.” She squeezed his arm then she left their table to join the rest of her squad.

Dawon threw them a side glance, but she dismissed it and moved on. “So, Rowoon. What kind of TOTGA do you have?”

Lexo cupped his chin and thought for a while. “The actual TOTGA and then the bad TOTGA.” He received nods and smiles, after he told his story. “ **_The one that got away and the one that ginago ako.[2]”_ ** Then Lexo’s phone rang. He received a text message, and his face brightened when he found out who it was. “Ah, my wife is downstairs, I’ll help her up!” He stood up and left.

When he did, Dawon’s hand made way to Mingyu’s arm, getting his attention. He smiled beautifully at her and asked, “Wae?”

She shook her head and returned the smile. “Nothing.” She glanced over at the glass window, looking over at Lexo, or Rowoon and his wife, Kim Sejeong, walk back to the restaurant. “Looks like Rowoon got his happy ending, too.” She looked up at his face, saying, “Don’t blame yourself too much, okay?”

He smiled once more and said, “You’re right.” Still, he had this guilt-sticken thought, especially as Kim Jiho also enters the restaurant, casually throwing him a smug smile.

***

 ** _Kim Min Gyu | 12 - St. Joseph the Worker_**  

 ** _Cold Season (October) 2017, Wednesday_**  

            Really, why is Mingyu so guilty? Because he said something he knows he shouldn’t have said.

Back then, a week before the break, Jiho called him out to the garden behind the school, with her crossed arms and questioning expression. “Kim Mingyu.” She called him out.

“Yes?” He asked, slightly curious as to why is this girl calling him out right before his father picks him up. Great timing, as he may add. “We don’t usually call each other out formally like this, no? What’s with today that you’re calling me out, huh, Kim Jiho?”

“Spill me the deets about Rowoon and Minkyung.”

Bewildered, he asked, “Why would I do that?”

She smirked. “I know what’s up with **her.** You don’t want **her** to know, right?” Evilly, as Mingyu may add. Because as she approached him, he realized that he needs to say it to protect **her.**

 

* * *

 

[1] Kamusta - "How are you?"

[2] The one that ginago ako - "The one who caused me pain"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! So this fic is actually made for me to(a) overcome my slump and (b) to reconnect with some good friends of mine, so I asked them their TOTGA Stories. (Ya'll probably know what totga means by now, but it has multiple meanings) So these stories got their inspiration from real events. (some of them, like for instance, this twitter drama, are things that I saw happen, too.) For this story, thank you, Lexo, for telling me your story. Salamat! To all the people who told me your stories, I will write it down, I promise. Thank you for helping me. With love, Zing!


	4. Chapter 3 : Pasaway

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pasaway - someone who mischievously insists on behaving contrary to what is expected in a situation, almost as if purposely baiting to be told not to. This chapter presents the group of friends' and their batchmates' "pasaway" stories

**Chapter 3: Pasaway!**

**Café Nenzo, Meycauayan City, Bulacan.** **Δ** **December 17.**  

          Dawon took the glass of champagne next to Mingyu and took a sip from it, earning a side glance from the said man. After Rowoon has left them to join his squad and his wife, the four of them, Dawon, Mingyu, Seokmin and Yuna were all just sitting there. Some of their batchmates whom they were close with briefly, approached them, but there was literally no one who took a seat – one of the three vacant seats, to be exact. They were literally waiting for the three missing humans in their table, that is, Eunbi, the one who jokes a lot, Yoonoh, the number one when it comes to noise and Jung Chaeyeon, the person who’s the goddess of beauty in the group.Dawon was about to reach for the bottle of champagne before Mingyu got a hold of it, sending a glare to the said girl. “Stop it, it’s only 8, but you’re on what, your third glass?”

Yuna nodded, slightly worried about her best friend. “Mingyu has a point, Dawon. Don’t drink too much.”

“Dawon has no problem drinking. You, though,” Seokmin started to rant. “Go crazy whenever you get drunk, so no wine for you tonight.”

Yuna frowned a bit at Seokmin’s mini-scolding and Dawon just smiled over them, saying, “I drink this to turn extra hyper.”

“You’ve gotten over coffee?” Yuna teased. “I never thought you’d get over coffee.”

“Coffee is still iconic.” Dawon smiled brightly. “Ah, I can’t wait to get hyper.”

“Do you mean, you can’t wait to get embarrassing?” Mingyu teased, as well. “Dawon, please don’t do something embarrassing, like, do it for my sake, too. Okay?”

She pouted, “ **Hindi no.[1]”** She cracked her neck for a while. “I can’t wait for them to bring out the karaoke.” All the three friends’ eyes widened out of shock as they saw the karaoke come out of the staff’s room, making the said girl stand up out of excitement. “Ah, finally!”

“Dawon, no.” They chorused. Yuna’s eyes widened out of shock, Mingyu literally facepalmed and Seokmin, well, let’s not talk about him as he blatantly excused himself to the bathroom, to escape the second-hand embarrassment. As she began picking a song and Yuna and Mingyu accepting their ill fates, Mingyu smiled.

“She’s gotten a lot quieter than high school, Yuna.” He glanced over at her. “Although her voice is still as loud as it seems, she knows when to act proper and when to act like the high school Dawon we all know and love.”

“Like right now?” Yuna glanced over at Seokmin, who just came back from the bathroom, just as Dawon began singing “Set Fire to the Rain”. Yuna laughed, “You’re just in time!”

He shook his head then sat back down on his seat. “Anyway, I saw Yeonjoo enter the hall just now. Mingyu –“ Seokmin stopped and smirked “Yeonjoo was asking about you.”

Yunu saw this and joyously smiled. “You should’ve invited her to sit with us for a bit!”

“She will, after she pulls out her genius boyfriend Lee Gunmin out of the car, that is.” Seokmin notes as he sits down on his seat, referring to the two kids who were kicked out of the top class before the start of the senior year. “Man, she and Kim Jiho arrived almost at the same time.” Yuna shook her head at Seokmin’s remark, noting that Jiho **indeed** arrive a few minutes before Yeonjoo and Gunmin did. “Hey, do you guys remember when Minghao first got into our class, a day after Minkyung?” He asked why throwing side glances at Dawon, who was hitting high notes – actually, straining them, while laughing.

Mingyu raised a brow out of curiosity. “Was that even a thing? Minghao was so quiet on his first day, I didn’t even notice some ‘off’ things on that day.”

When Yuna realized the topic Seokmin was about to open, she gasped as she also threw a side glance at Dawon. “Of course you wouldn’t remember, you were out for a tennis game on that day, you jock!” She chuckled as she shook her head. “The day Dawon cut classes for the first time.”

 

***

**Nam Da Won | 12 - St. Joseph the Worker**  

**Rainy Season (July) 2017, Wednesday**  

 

Dawon groaned and tapped her pen, obviously stressed out about something. Kim Doyoung, a male classmate of hers, thinks that there’s something going on between her and the new guy, Xu Minghao. She’s been nervously tapping her pen since he came in and she looks like she’s so stressed – a scene he rarely sees, sitting next to her since the first day. “Huy, you okay?” He finally asked her, curious as to why is she like this.

“It’s nothing.” She assured him with a smile. But he’s not buying it, not at all. He and Dawon have been classmates since middle school, so he’s definitely not buying this. “Promise.”

Doyoung blinked. Twice, maybe even thrice. She can fool anyone but him, he thought. “You can talk to him later, though.”

This time, it was Dawon’s turn to blink. And she nodded, saying, “Yeah, I should.”

“Alright, class dismissed.” When she heard that, Dawon went straight to the back row – to Yuna and Seokmin’s seat. The two were rather quiet, just chilling at the last row, casually looking over at the transferee when she got there.

“What up?” Yuna asked.

“I need to cut classes.” Dawon confessed, then this got both Seokmin and Yuna’s attentions – like, actual attention.

“You’re not gonna do that, right?” Yuna asked, eyes quietly shaking, throwing some side glances at Seokmin, slightly asking him to make her not cut classes. “Why are you gonna cut classes, anyway, Dawon?”

“ **I need to go see my oppa.”**

 

Seokmin blinked, and his face twitched. “That boyband?” He groaned. “You’re really gonna do that?”

Dawon nodded. “Of course I am, but the catch is, the teachers know if I’m missing or not.”

Yuna nodded with agreement. “Your voice is so loud, of course they can’t miss you out.”

“I know, that’s my problem.” Dawon sighed and pouted. “Cut back at junior year, where we all know, I accidentally spoke a curse out loud.” She reminded them of the scene and they all mentally face-palmed. “But our dismissal is at 5pm today, but the fan meet is at 1pm. If I don’t leave, then I’ll miss my only one shot to see and meet my oppa!”

Yuna held on to her temples. **Oh my god, Dawon.** She sighed. “How are we gonna excuse you for the next four hours, huh?”

“Yuna has a point, Dawon. Why don’t we consider me getting my strings used then?” Seokmin asked brightly, obviously trying to dismiss the idea of Dawon cutting classes.

“Then it won’t be fun anymore.” She scoffed and pouted. “Ah, I need to go to the mall, quick, do something for me!” Pacing, she looks like she’s going to lose her mind in the next few minutes. “Guys, I need help, here.”

Yuna crossed her legs, also thinking on what to do. “Should we say that you had an emergency so you had to leave school and the dorms?” She suggested, casually dropping the tone. “Because we’d be doomed as soon as anyone else finds out about this, Dawon.” She shot another glare at Dawon. “I swear, even if Mingyu was here, he’d **totally** disapprove.”

Dawon muttered, “When did he **not** disapprove?” She sighed. “Alright then, now I got to go to where, maybe, leave in a couple of hours?”

Seokmin was thinking, though. How can he help on sending Dawon off – like, cut classes. As much as he doesn’t want to let her go, he knows the girl’s undying love for boy bands, they’re close enough for that. He frowned, thinking about how to get away with it. “Ah, I know now, Dawon.”

She raised a brow. “What?”

“Tell the teacher this.”

And Dawon smiled widely and skipped out of the classroom to meet Moon Byulyi, their teacher for the next class. Later that afternoon, Ms. Moon went into the classroom, making all the students sit straight, and she coughed. She looks scary for a teacher, and she has this aura that no one can easily define. She placed her things on the teacher’s table and she stood straight. “So class P.R.O Nam Dawon is excused from class because she has monthly cramps. Sergeant at arms Jeon Wonwoo, do the greeting, alright?”

Jeon Wonwoo looked over at Dawon’s empty seat with a raised eyebrow then he threw a side glance at Seokmin and Yuna who were there, trying to hold their laughter. Meanwhile, at the other side of the city, Nam Dawon is screaming her lungs out as she sees her favourite boy band enter the stage. The happiest day of her life.

***

**Café Nenzo, Meycauayan City, Bulacan.** **Δ** **December 17.**  

          Dawon rolled her eyes as she sipped a glass of iced tea. After belting out crazy high notes for Set Fire to the Rain, she decided to take some rest and apparently she heard the part of Jeon Wonwoo actually curious of what was up during that time. “But you guys know, those guys disbanded a month ago. It’s sad. They were only rising rookies back then at 2017.” She shrugged. “Oh well, there’s no permanent thing in this world.” She quietly placed her glass on the table and raised her arm to get the attention of the waiter. The waiter approached her with a smile. “Please get me a cold cup of coffee.”

“No way.” Seokmin, bewildered, just heaved a heavy sigh. “Is she gonna sing Rolling in the Deep next?”

“I might think about it if you don’t shut up.” She answered with hinted sarcasm.

“Oh, really, Dawon doesn’t change, after all. She’s still the same, hyper, **gwapo[2]-** loving girl we all know and love.” Yuna smiled and caressed Dawon’s head like a mom. Then she saw a short-haired girl, likely with no fashion sense as her face curled up when she saw her. “Oh, Jung Eunbi is here.”

They all stood when they saw her. Eunbi, and her short hair. Well, she had a long-ass hair back in high school, but she decided to keep it chopped – she says she looks cuter and she attracts both men and women on it. Funny, because she’s the only one left single in The Originals. “What’s with the face, Dawon? Chaeyeon picked it for me!” Eunbi said in defence.

“Those clothes are the types of clothes that will fit Chaeyeon, not you.” Mingyu added. “But if you want, I have a university hoodie in the car, I can get it for you.”

She scoffed. “Forget it, I’ll ask for Wonwoo’s when he gets here.” She sat down next to Yuna and she settled down, finally filling out one of the missing seats. “The other two Jungs are not yet here?”

“One Jung says he has to work for overtime while the other Jung has to cleanse herself off of radiation, so they’re both coming out late.” Seokmin explained. “Like I know what Chaeyeon means.” He added with notable sarcasm.

“Well, Agent Lee, Engineer Jung is working in a nuclear power plant, so it’s only natural that she has to wash off the radiation.” Dawon explained this time to Seokmin, making him gasp. “Chemical engineers are hard on work these days, and they earn more than us in these era, too. Law enforcement people wouldn’t know.”

“Hey.” Both Seokmin and Yuna complained.

Eunbi raised a brow at Yuna. “You’re still in law enforcement? I thought you gave it up to focus on writing.”

Yuna just heaved a heavy sigh. “I love my job, Eunbi.”

“Yeah, I guess you have to love your job.” Eunbi nodded in agreement. “So what were you guys talking about before I got here?”

“Nothing much, just Dawon cutting classes.” Mingyu answered while picking another bread from the table and putting it inside his mouth. “Man, Dawon was a real badass for getting away with the cutting classes.”

“Now that Eunbi is here, we might actually have the real badass.” Seokmin got everyone’s attention this time, with curious eyes. “Remember when she got into a heated debate with Miss Moon about that you know, during chemistry time and she just had to associate ethyl alcohol with **red horse [3].”**

Eunbi just smiled sheepishly and smirked. “Well, Red Horse is still alcohol, right?”

***

**Jung Eun Bi | 12 - St. Joseph the Worker**  

**Rainy Season (June) 2017, Friday**  
  


“So now, we’re going to talk about alcohol, i’s chemical composition and the rest of the things we need to know about it. I’m going to write the formula now.” Moon Byulyi went to the board and wrote the formula, CH2CH3OH then she tapped on the board. “This is alcohol. What type of alcohol is this?”

Eunbi was the typical slacker. She’d slack off whenever she feels like it, and to her, Friday is the most perfect day to slack off. Why? Because it’s Friday, and it means that she can go shopping later maybe with the girls or she can pull Yoonoh to join her shopping today. And also because it’s Chemistry. It’s not that she can’t do chemistry, but this chemistry is that chemistry where she needs to use formulas and annoying stoichiometry, and yes, she’ll all complaints with that stoichiometry, also called the gate of hell for Eunbi.

“Jung Eunbi.” Eunbi snapped out of her thoughts of shopping when Miss Moon saw her spacing out. And with that, her dreams of wanting to go on a shopping spree disappeared. Poof. Off it goes. “Stand up.” Miss Moon ordered, making the girl stand up. For once, she was scared of Miss Moon. She had this grey hair, maybe to keep up with the Moon surname but last time she checked, Seokmin doesn’t wear Rock Lee’s iconic bowl-with-bangs hair, well, maybe Yuna wears his bangs and doesn’t take it off, like ever. “What kind of alcohol is this?”

**Well, what alcohol, like is this Red Horse or The Bar or San Miguel Pale Pilsen or is this, maybe wine. Oh wait, does wine count as alcohol? I don’t know, should I go for the most common answer, like that’s the safest, right?** Eunbi thought then she heaved a heavy sigh. **Well, here goes nothing.** “Red Horse?”

Miss Moon blinked.

 

Maybe once or thrice. Ah, Eunbi knew how doomed she was. Especially when she saw Miss Moon’s scary smirk, or was it smile. She went to the projector and turned it off. **Uh-oh.** Eunbi cursed at the back of her head. Ah, she’s really doomed. Kim Jaehwan, who was sitting in front of her, scribbled, “ethanol” on his notepad. Then when she realized it late, he wrote, “You’re doomed.”

**“I know.”** Eunbi mouthed.

Miss Moon had a sheepish smile and she sat on the teacher’s table. “I’m going to talk about alcohol awareness right now, Jung Eunbi. Prepare yourself for a debate with me. First off, are you drunk?”

Eunbi knows that she isn’t – but she also knows she’s good as doomed. Anyway, who answers beer on class?!

Jung Eunbi, of course.

***

**Café Nenzo, Meycauayan City, Bulacan.** **Δ** **December 17.**  

Eunbi massaged her temples and said, “I swear she didn’t let me live for the rest of the year.”

The rest of them chorused in laughter, casually throwing the beer joke. Seokmin added, “Well, it’s not Miss Moon if she allowed you to live for rest of the year, right?” His eyes widened when he saw someone enter. “Oh, Chengxiao is here.” He nudged Mingyu and smirked a teasing one. “Huy, lookie, it’s Chengxiao.”

Mingyu tossed a strong glare at Seokmin and hushed him. “Another word, I’ll chokeslam you.”

“The words that you pick up from your co-worker is getting annoying, Mingyu.” Dawon remarked, to which Mingyu just frowned at. “Anyway, are any of the two Jungs coming soon? How come Rowoon was able to leave work early, but Yoonoh can’t?”

“Unlike Rowoon, Yoonoh is highkey a brat, so what else is new?” Mingyu answered then he looked over at Yuna, who has some curry sauce left on her lips. He passed her a tissue. “Your lips.”

She took the tissue and thanked him, saying, “Thank you.” Then she wiped the curry sauce off her face. She looked over at Seokmin. “Is it gone?”

He nodded. “Ah, remember when some kids from Class 12 – St. Pudentiana spiked our cafeteria dinner?”

Mingyu groaned and looked over at the alcohol on their table as he massaged his temples. “Don’t remind me, I was craving for goddamn alcohol after that.”

Dawon sighed heavily. “The hang-over we had back then was the worst.”

Eunbi nodded and shot a glare to one of the noted St. Pudentiana students who are sitting on the table next to them, that is, Koo Junhoe. She scoffed and began throwing shade, the typical Eunbi. “Ah, I swear I will snap at him, if I go back in time.”

Seokmin and Mingyu both frowned then looked at her with wonder as Seokmin noted, “Ah, her drunken habits.” The two other girls smirked and smiled.

She raised a brow, low key asking whatever on earth are these kids doing. “What do you guys mean?”

“Actually, Eunbi, you snapped at Koo Junhoe already.”

***

**Lee Seok Min | 12- St. Joseph the Worker  
Rainy Season (July) 2017, Saturday**

It was around 6pm that day, in the Senior Batch Dormitory. Most students come back to the dorms from **sabayang pagbigkas [4]** practice. Some of them came back from somewhere else, they probably went to the mall, or maybe for a date, and a few of them came down just to get some dinner. Seokmin, together with Mingyu and their class Sergeant at Arms, the usual disciplinarian in their class, Jeon Wonwoo, came from sabayang pagbigkas practice to eat dinner, finally, after a long day of being bossed by Dawon to make their voices a little louder. Sabayang pagbigkas, after all, is the Filipino version of a speech choir, and they need loud voices. Some kids from the other classes, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Pudentiana, St. Edward the Confessor and St. Francis of Assisi, were already flocking in the cafeteria. Most of them were from St. Pudentiana. This class finished practice hours ago, so the kids were no longer in their P.E uniforms. Seokmin noted specially the group of Yulhee, Junhoe, Jihyun, Jihye, Sewoong and Eunsu, as they were hanging around with their now-ex-classmates, Yeonju and Lee Gunmin. After a mess in the top class, Yeonju and Gunmin found themselves thrown away to St. Pudentiana. Seokmin smiled at the two when they passed through each other and waved them a small wave. The two just smiled at return, but Yeonju notably shook her head away when Mingyu was about to come close. Wonwoo grabbed Mingyu’s wrist and just shook his head, and he pulled him away.

As they take their food from the counter, the trio sat on a table near to the entrance. “You guys aren’t eating with the girls today?” Wonwoo asked as he sat on his seat.

Seokmin nodded. “Yuna is still practicing some stunts for the speech choir, Dawon’s still working on the poem distribution, Yoonoh told us not to wake him up then Eunbi and Chaeng are still changing into their sleepwear, so they’re gonna join us in a bit.” He was about to start eating, until he smelled something weird on his plate. He sniffed, wondering what it was for a while now. While Mingyu, who has allergic rhinitis especially after sunset, cannot smell anything. He just eats and eats without being mindful of his food. “I know the dinner’s curry, right? It smells weird.” He decided that leaving the curry alone for the night is the best thing to do.

Wonwoo, on the other hand, is rather very hungry, so he didn’t care, basically, he just ate whatever’s on his plate. “They’re here.” Wonwoo grabbed two chairs from his back and placed them between him and Seokmin, so the two sat down between them. They were wearing their pyjamas, and on their trays were grape juice and the same food they ordered.  Likely because curry’s the only thing in the menu tonight. “Wow, Eunbi, you look weird.” Wonwoo began.

She shot a glare at him. “Shut it.” And like the boys, the two began eating. In a bit later, Dawon and Yuna joined them. They were eating peacefully until, well,

Yuna, who was sitting next to Seokmin, nudged him. “Hey.”

“Yes?” He asked, cautiously noting Yuna’s weird look on her face. “You okay?”

“Do you want to get some alcohol?”

This alerted Seokmin. A few days ago, Eunbi sparked controversy regarding alcohol use in the school after her debate with Miss Moon and her grey hair, so the school is especially tight on the alcohol this week. “Are you crazy?” Then a few seconds after that, Mingyu’s face dropped down on the table. “Huy!”

Then it hit him.

He smelled the curry that was left to the side and was bewildered when he realized what **that** smell is. “SEOKMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN~” A high-pitched voice came from behind him –

 

Backhugging him.

He turned around, knowing the familiar smell coming behind him. “Dawon, are you drunk?”

She just gave a short nod with her closed eyes. **Bad drunken habits.** He told himself, as he mentally reminded himself not to let Dawon drink in the near future. “Seokmin-ah~ Why don’t you choose me, instead?”

He just sat there, thinking, **this girl is just too drunk to be true.** “Ey, Dawon, don’t be like that. Get up, do to your room.” He mentally facepalmed as he realized that he had to take them all to their rooms. Seokmin looked around. He saw most of the kids taking off their jackets, constantly complaining that it’s hot, but the girls – are being drunkards. He looked at the table and saw the prime suspect – the grape juice. The boys had orange juice, but they had grape juice. He removed Dawon’s arms from his shoulders and the helped her sit on one of the chairs are she continued crying. **Crying Girl Drunk.** He classified her at the back of his mind.

“Yah, I’m gonna go up, I think I’m gonna throw up.” Wonwoo excused himself.

“While you’re at it, can you bring Mingyu up? Yoonoh should be awake by now.” Seokmin, apparently the only remaining sane one, asked Wonwoo, and he nodded. He picked Mingyu up and tried his best to keep his vomiting to himself. When he left, Seokmin went off to the kitchen, with Eunbi trailing behind him unknowingly. He groaned and saw the culprit –

Koo Junhoe, of course. It’s not anything new, he was a messy kid. He just sighed, but then.

“HEY YOU B@$t@£$%!” An extremely high-pitched voice vocalized behind him. “Let me tell you about life, huh!?” Oops. Seokmin thought to himself. “Jung Eunbi is gonna tell you how to live properly!” She pushed Junhoe by the collar, making Seokmin sigh in defeat. **This is gonna be a long night.**

***

          **Café Nenzo, Meycauayan City, Bulacan. Δ December 17**

Eunbi smirked and groaned as she rolled her eyes – again. Maybe the tenth time just for the past hour. “Stop it, ha, I decided not to try spiking anything since that day, or night, whatever.”

“Some juniors spiked our prom punch, but that’s a story to be told next time.” Seokmin remarked as he glanced at the punch on the buffet table. “Although we can definitely drink now, we’re not minors anymore.”

“Owh stop, we know Choi Yuna shouldn’t drink, even Yoonoh says that she shouldn’t. And Yoonoh wasn’t even at the spiked dinner party.” Mingyu remarked, which made him earn a strong glare from the said girl.

“You shouldn’t be talking to me. You slept until 1pm the next day.” She groaned and sat back. Her eyes caught a glimpse of the person they’ve been waiting for a while now. “Ah, the craziest of them all has arrived.”

Dawon beamed as she saw his figure. “He’s here!”

Yoonoh, with his tall figure and wide smile, entered the restaurant. The actual god of  _ **ka-pasawayan**_  has arrived.

* * *

 

**_[1] Hindi no -_** tagalog expression to express disagreement.

_**[2]**_ _ **Gwapo -**_ handsome

_**[3]  Red Horse -**_ One of the most popular brands of beer in the Philippines

_**[4] Sabayang pagbigkas -**_ Speech choir


	5. Chapter 4: Torpe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The second story of the one that got away, the one that ginago ako [broke me] or the one that god allowed is Yugyeom's story. Yugyeom was smart, maybe before love came along. He loved his guitar, chess, Defense of the Ancients 2 and Jimin -- Wait. Jimin?

__

Chapter 4: Torpe

**Café Nenzo, Meycauayan City, Bulacan. Δ December 17.**

Yoonoh felt disgusted. Seeing Eunbi eat like crazy – it’s not like it’s not normal for Eunbi to eat more than she should, it’s just that he hasn’t seen it for a while now. He grabbed a few tissues from the tissue box that Seokmin passed to him, as he wiped Dawon’s face out from spaghetti paste a few minutes ago. “Ah, really, Eunbi, eat a little neatly, will you?” He passed her the tissues and she wiped the mess off her face.

“I guess some things never change.” A tall person entered the room. He was taller than Mingyu, for a few centimetres, and he was good-looking, too. He was searching their table for a person, and when he locked eyes with her, he smiled a little. “ _Uy_ Dawon, you’ve gotten chubbier.”

Dawon rolled her eyes and frowned. “Wow, thank you, huh,  **_Kim Yugyeom.”_ ** She motioned him to sit down next to her and Mingyu, and Yugyeom stole a chair – notably from Minkyung’s group of friends, -- and he sat with them. “So how’s the biggest biological engineer doing?”

“Not fine. I had to cram my way out of work, and I have a slightly nagging wife asking me to come home early, thanks a lot, hun.” He threw some shade, aiming for someone nearby.

“Where are the kids?” Yuna asked.

“I left them with their grandma.” He then nodded at her. “Attorney Choi! Been a while, huh? How’s the new book going?”

Yuna rolled her eyes. Not counting Lexo about an hour ago, everyone who came to see her basically congratulated her about her new book. Now, with the addition of good ol’ Kim Yugyeom, the list just got longer. “Ey, cut getting pissed about it, everyone’s proud of you.” Seokmin shook it off with a smile. He looked over at Yugyeom. “ **_Jimin_ ** got here early. She was already here when me and Yuna got here.”

Yugyeom smiled differently. It was a neutral one. Not in pain, not happy, either. Content, maybe, was plastered on it. “I contacted her about a week ago for this reunion.”

Suddenly, all eyes on the table were shoved to Yugyeom. Even Yoonoh, who wanted to skip Yugyeom storytime, opened up his eyes and ears. “You did?” He asked, with curiosity.

Yugyeom nodded. “The theme for this reunion...” He crooked his neck to the right side and sighed, “ **_The One That Got Away._ ** I had to ask her to remind me.”

**_“How she got away.”_ **

***

**_Kim Yu Gyeom | 12 – St. Joseph the Worker_ **

**_Rainy Season (July) 2017, Wednesday_ **

Yugyeom heaved a heavy sigh. He's so close to giving Dawon a check-mate, but she got away, for the seventh time, for this game. "Yah, Nam Dawon, get a hold of yourself, please."

Dawon just beamed. Eunbi was a lot better than Dawon in chess, Yugyeom considers himself a little better than Dawon. To Yugyeom, his high school days in the school circulates in five things –

Studies, his guitar, basketball, Defense of the Ancients 2 and yes, chess. He doesn't play in varsity games, though. It's quite hard for him to go through Eunbi and another schoolmate of theirs, Kang Daniel, in the audition rounds, but he plays as their sparring mate. To him, that's fair enough. He decided that maybe he can play when he gets to college.

The spectators, namely, Yuna, Seokmin and Mingyu were all around them. Rowoon was there a few seconds ago, but he had to come with Wonwoo to take some stuffs from the dorm. "Ah, I can't play chess." Yuna complained. "I can do dama, though." She looked up at Seokmin. "You?"

He smirked. "I almost defeated Eunbi in a match, beat that, Choi Yuna."

"If he wasn't stupid enough to use the horse, aka his strongest bet, as a pit for Eunbi's queen." Mingyu teased him and Seokmin groaned and nudged him from the side.

"Shh!" Yugyeom shushed them. "I can't concentrate!" He moved his queen – only to realize that Dawon has her horse ready for anything. Frustrated, he shot a glare to her. “Wow, Nam Dawon.”

“You’ve called me by my full name twice now, Yugyeom.”

“Thrice, actually.” He corrected her as he (finally) realized that all he needs to do is to block her knight with his bishop.  **_Stupid Yugyeom, why didn’t I think of that earlier?_ ** He told himself as the made the blowing move. “Checkmate, Dawon.” When he placed the piece on top of its spot, they both heaved a heavy sigh and he smiled widely as he stood up. “Alrighty, Dawon! Re-arrange the pieces, and the next match will be mine!”

The girl who just lost sighed another sigh and nodded. “Nae~” She went back to the table and began re-arranging the chess pieces while Yugyeom went to Yuna and the rest of the crew.

“Wow, you won.” Yuna noted, almost nonchalantly. “Amazing, really.” This time, with notable sarcasm. “Yay.”

Seokmin nudged her. “Can’t you at least pretend to be happy for him?”

“Meanie.” Yugyeom joked. “Anyway, I’m hungry. Is Yoonoh or Rowoon around? I need to get some food.”

“They went downstairs with Eunbi and Minkyung. They went to eat.” Mingyu explained.

Yugyeom nodded and looked around in the classroom. Other  than them, a few more students stayed in the classroom. Most kids went to the cafeteria for lunch, while the rest of them are probably not hungry, so decided to just sleep in the classroom. Yugyeom caught Sicheng’s eyes, who just woke up, based on his observations, and he said, “Sicheng! **_Tara chess!_** ** _[1]_** Dawon just lost to me.”

> _ [1] Tara chess! - "Let's play chess!" _

Sicheng stared at him for a few seconds. “You know what, come over here.” Although puzzled, Yugyeom still went to his side and sat on the chair next to him. He raised a brow as if asking,  **_what_ ** to him. “Hey, are you close to Park Jimin?”

“The girl Jimin?” Yugyeom glanced at the direction where Park Jimin was sitting. Jimin is a cute girl. She has shoulder-length hair and the trendy chopped bangs. She would also dye her hair every now and then, but then, dyed hair is not allowed in their school, so she would dye it back to black right after the long weekend. To be honest, Yugyeom is worried about her scalp because really, who dyes their hair once a week? Oh, yes, Park Jimin would. “We’re not close.. I guess.”

“You two would talk from time-to-time!”

“Why do you need to be close to her, anyway?”

“Well, other than Roseanne Park, she got a 99 at the English test. So I need her notes. Her notes are crucial in this story. Her notes can change and shape the universe.” Sicheng tried explaining, trying to make sense, to which Yugyeom did not get. He knows that Jimin  **_is_ ** indeed, good in English class. She would speak in some sort of British accent, in contrast to Roseanne’s Australian accent.

Yugyeom groaned. He ranked sixth last term, but Sicheng ranked last in that test – and that already includes recent class transfers, Minkyung and Minghao. “Eh, get closer to her.” He shook the idea off but then, Jimin entered the room. As Yugyeom is really tall, Jimin looks a like a midget next to him. He gave her a short nod as she sat down on her seat across Sicheng. He quietly noted her now-grey hair that flowed behind her back.

Jimin is a transfer, because of her grades. Last school year at 11 th grade, she ranked 26 th overall, making her slip into the top class, kicking out one kid from last year’s top class. She kicked out Kang Daniel, though. Losing a chess prodigy is hard for the top class, too, but at least they gained a tough debater. Right?

Or not.

Yugyeom raised a brow as Yoonoh entered the classroom with his knowing smirk. Yoonoh notably entered with Jung Chaeyeon and Jung Eunbi, but that’s not new either. They belonged to a squad with Dawon, Yuna, Seokmin and Mingyu, so it’s not like it’s weird seeing them together.

What’s weird is, Yoonoh sitting next to Jimin to do who-knows-what. At first, Yugyeom thought it was normal, but now, he’s creeped out.

**_Isn’t Jung Yoonoh dating Jung Chaeyeon?_ ** Yugyeom glanced at Chaeyeon who was looking over at her notes, looking unbothered by the two. Yugyeom pulled Eunbi, who was passing through his lane. “ _ Uy. _ ”

“What?” Oh, another awfully strange height gap.

“What’s with Jimin and Yoonoh and Chaeyeon?”

Eunbi scanned around the room, hesitating for a bit before answering through a quiet whisper. “Yoonoh is pissing off Chaeng.” She began rolling her eyes and making strange movements. “Eh, you know him, _**diba?[**_ **_2]._ ** He’s a bit sensitive, so, there.”

> _ [2] Naman - A slang commonly used as an expression; has multiple translations depending on usage but this means "don't you" _

“But involving Jimin?”

Eunbi sighed and just squeezed Yugyeom’s arm before going back to her respective seat. Yugyeom also went to his seat, which is on the back row, right next to Kim Jiho, and he stared at the girl at the second row, talking with Yoonoh. And with a worried resolve, he glanced over at Chaeyeon, and told himself,  **_I need to get Park Jimin out of this growing mess._ **

***

**Café Nenzo, Meycauayan City, Bulacan. Δ December 17**

“Speaking of Jung Chaeyeon,  **_where is_ ** she?” Yoonoh asked everyone on the table, making him earn a raised brow from Eunbi and a bunch of shrugs.

Eunbi wondered, “Weren’t you supposed to pick her up?”

“I  **_WAS_ ** going to until she told me that she’s gonna come on her own.” Now, it’s Yugyeom’s turn to raise a brow.

“Hold up, I met her at  **_MRT[3]_ ** before I took the bus to get here. She said she needs to buy an engagement present. Is anyone getting engaged?” Everyone suddenly turned their head to Yugyeom, bewildered. “I messed up, didn’t I?”

> _ [3] MRT - The railway system in the Philippines _

Before anyone was going to complain, Eunbi reminded them, “Yugyeom can always give cash, right, groom?”

The future groom nodded while Yugyeom basically groaned. Other than the fact that this is a batch reunion, this is also an engagement party of a couple in their batch. As noted before, there are three meanings of TOTGA, thus the theme of the party. “Yah, the married couple in this room didn’t do that back then!”

“No excuses.” The groom grunted and he smiled widely. “Anyway, that’s how you saw her, but how did you actually meet like the actual stuffs? We need context.”

Yugyeom began to think for a bit. “But we were acquaintances, still.” Then he began thinking again.

Yoonoh, who isn’t pleased by his speed, just answered straight, “Let me answer for Yugyeom.” Eyeryone’s eyes turned to him. “It was the second day of me and Chaeyeon’s almost-cold war.”

“Oh right!” Yugyeom smiled. “Ah, I swear, Jung Yoonoh. It was the same day when I decided to keep Jimin out of your peripheral view!”

***

**_Kim Yu Gyeom | 12 – St. Joseph the Worker_ **

**_Rainy Season (July) 2017, Wednesday_ **

That same day Yugyeom decided to make sure that Jimin would stay away from Yoonoh and his war with his girlfriend, he kept staring back and forth from the girl, Jimin and the clock, patiently waiting for class to end. Last class is with the part-time teacher, Kim Jonghyun. He’s two years ahead of them, and is in the college department as an education major. He teaches them statistics, and honestly, he’s pretty good at it, and girls all swoon over him. That definitely did not exclude Chengxiao, who had hots for him since 8th grade, but that’s not a story for today so Yugyeom decided to focus on his mission – to save Jimin from the chaos Jung Yoonoh was about to initiate. The last time he was as stressed as this was before Yeonju and Gunmin got kicked out – not good.

Jonghyun finished checking their attendance and stood up, and began looking for a face. When he found it, he smiled. “Miss Luda, please meet me outside. You need to prepare for your peer tutoring sessions.”

Luda bowed a little and nodded as she followed him out. Yugyeom only glanced for a bit before he diverted his attention back to Jimin, who just left the room with Yoonoh –

**_Oh no Jung Yugyeom didn’t just – leave._ ** He rolled his eyes and ran off the room, not forgetting to pick up his school bag and getting a yell from Seokmin, saying,  **_“_ ** Hey, our group work!”

“I’ll do it when I get back!”

He dashed out and Seokmin went, “Get back from where?! When?!” Frustrated, he ran his hand through his hair. “Hey, Kim Yugyeom!” He grunted then walked out of the room and off to the library he went.

Meanwhile, Yugyeom went out to follow Jimin and Yoonoh outside. They were walking together. Unbeknownst to the pair, Yugyeom was already behind them, and he forcefully squeezed himself between them – and considering his height and the force he exerted to pull them apart, Yoonoh won’t be buying any excuses. “What?” He asked, quite agitated, as Yugyeom may add.

Taken aback, Yugyeom began to stutter. “Uhh y-you see—“ He looked down at the smaller girl waiting for whatsoever is happening. He clearly ran out of ideas to do, like, how  **_does_ ** he separate a boy and a girl? Then an idea finally popped. A risky one, but what can go wrong? “ _ I actually wanted to ask Jimin out.” _

Well that made things awkward. Yoonoh, stunned, took a few steps backward, and Jimin, equally shocked, flushed into a deep shade of red and bit her lower lip. Yugyeom, too, realized the awkwardness in the air. “Uh, you should’ve said so. This is so awkward.” Yoonoh groaned. “Fine.” He looked back at Jimin. “I’ll go on ahead.”

Jimin, although hesitant, just gave a small nod. As Yoonoh left, Yugyeom heaved a heavy sigh and he swears that if the ground isn’t dirty mud, he would’ve collapsed right on the spot. “You –“ He heard her speak, making him turn to her. “You just needed an escape from something, right?”

Yugyeom blinked. “What?”

“You just needed someone as an escape pod or something.” She reasoned, not buying the date excuse. “I know about Jung Chaeyeon and Jung Yoonoh’s quarrel, so it doesn’t really work on me, Kim Yugyeom.”

He blinked once more. “Wait.” He stopped. “You knew about it?”

Jimin nodded knowingly. “Um, duh, he’s been asking me tips about how to get Chaeyeon end their  **_cool-off_ ** **_[4]_ ** .”

> _ [4] cool-off - a slang for a couple who seems to be in rough waters. _

“Well, what the heck.” He nonchalantly shook his head and just frowned. “Ah, this is embarrassing.”

“Of course it is.”

“Should we just get dinner outside for real?”

Shocked, Jimin looked back up at Yugyeom. He didn’t even bat an eyelash. – he’s serious. She smiled inside her mind and nodded. “I like Tokyo Tokyo.”

He groaned at her taste. “Ew, let’s go to KFC.”

***

**Café Nenzo, Meycauayan City, Bulacan. Δ December 17**

_ “Somebody let me know, tell me which way to go~”  _ The song that was playing sounded so familiar to them. And as the chorus ended, everyone kept singing along with one of the songs in their youth. Well, who didn’t love that song? It was an underrated song that was plainly beautiful, even to those who didn’t like idols, or singers, in general.

“Ah, that song is so damn good.” Yuna exclaimed. “It’s like the Korean-level  **_Magbalik._ ** **_[5]_ ** ”

> _ [5] Magbalik by Callalily - An extremely popular Filipino song that talks about futile efforts. _

“Ya.” Eunbi called her out. “Magbalik doesn’t deserve the disrespect.” She cupped her chin. “Maybe it’s **_Di Lang Ikaw_** ** _[6]_** level or something, but not on the level of _Magbalik. Magbalik_ was too legendary.”

> _[6] Di Lang Ikaw by Juris - A Filipino break-up song that talks about how it's the both of them that's hurting_.

“Eunbi.” Now Yoonoh called her out. “That’s disrespect to Yesterday, Today at this point. It’s **_Tadhana_** ** _[7]_** level, at the least.”

> _[7] Tadhana by Up Dharma Down - A filipino song that talks about fate_

“My, my, are we comparing songs now?” Yuna asked, with evident annoyance in her tone. Seokmin began fanning her with his hand and he passed her some water. “Thank you, Seokmin.” She said, with added sarcasm. Just then,  _ Tadhana  _ reminded her of something. “Wait, Yugyeom, Tadhana relates to you and Jimin SO MUCH!”

“Hep!” Dawon intervened. “Wasn’t it that song? You know, the song about the guy who didn’t want to confess his actual feelings – slash too young too dumb?”

Yugyeom smirked. “Wow, thanks for the support, woman.” He added with sarcasm.

“You’re welcome.”

“Anyway!” Mingyu interrupted the two before it became worse. “What happened after that?”

“Hmm, nothing much, I guess.” He answered. “We went out on dinner a lot, though. And we got really close.”

“Ah!” Mingyu exclaimed, getting everyone’s attention.

“Pipe it down, you’re so loud, you can break the glass windows.” Yuna scolded him and he sat down properly, finally. Then he looked at Yuna with seriousness in his eyes. “What?”

“Remember that time when we saw Yugyeom and Jimin together? In Tokyo-Tokyo? When we went out for dinner with Yeonju and Gunmin?”

Mingyu blinked twice until he realized it. “Oh, right! Dude!” He tugged on Yugyeom’s shirt. “Damn that was so freaking awkward I thought I was gonna die!”

***

**_Kim Yu Gyeom | 12 – St. Joseph the Worker_ **

**_Rainy Season (August) 2017, Saturday_ **

It was another one of those rainy days in August. Yugyeom wanted to go home for the weekends with Dawon, but the test on Monday in Calculus is not something he can take home. His younger sister and elder siblings might get annoyed. It’s a family weekend, after all. So technically, he’s staying in his dorm room, all alone, too, since apparently, his roommate is gone for the weekend, as well. Well, Bambam never liked studying, so he might as well go home and spend it with his family, not that he actually likes home with his family, too.

But this bored Yugyeom out. He has no one to play DOTA 2 with, nor do homeworks, since he finished them all off last Friday. He technically has nothing to do because it looks like Mingyu is out today, too, since he saw him walk out of the school with Yuna, another guy, probably Gunmin, and his girlfriend, Yeonju. Too bad Yuna’s boyfriend is also out of the dorms today.

He sighed once more, maybe the third ever since he started contemplating about staying at the dorms. “Everyone’s dating here and there.” He wasn’t salty, of course, he’s not. He’s never dated, though. Probably the closest one he ever “dated” was Dami, and he would swear to the heavens that it didn’t end well.

He decided that maybe it was for the best that he’d go out on his own, maybe to eat takoyaki on his own, or go to Cafe Nenzo all alone, too. He opened his door, but to his surprise, a familiar face was in front of his door. “Oh? What are you doing here, Jimin?”

“Hi.” She greeted shyly. Recently, he and Jimin have gotten a lot closer. She would always greet him when she had the chance, and he would help her with schoolwork. Their dinners became frequent, too.

“You didn’t come home for the weekend?” He asked as he closed off his door.

She nodded. “I was wondering if we could eat dinner. No one’s cooking dinner since more than half of the kids went home for the weekend.”

Yugyeom nodded, as if he has anything better to do. “Let’s go.”

So, the two of them took the jeepney from the school to the nearest mall. Yugyeom, as we all know, prefers KFC while Jimin prefers Tokyo Tokyo. In the mall, the two fast food chains would stand next to each other. In front of the two stores stood one  _ I-don’t-wanna-eat-there  _ Kim Yugyeom and a  _ Yass-definitely-eating-at-tokyo-tokyo-today  _ Park Jimin. “Jimin, no.”

“Jimin, yes.” Jimin dashed inside the restaurant and Yugyeom just followed shortly. She began ordering as he looked up. These food were all unfamiliar to him, except maybe for the tempura and well,  **_He doesn’t know! He was literally dragged!_ ** He sighed. “What are you getting?” The girl eagerly asked.

He shook his head. “You pick. I have no allergies whatsoever.”

She nodded and proceeded to order two tempura bento boxes and upsized iced tea. After they got their orders, Yugyeom carried everything on his hands and went to find a seat. Surprisingly, he saw a familiar pair.

Oh, how doomed was he today?

Choi Yuna and Lee Gunmin. It’s not even Seokmin. Ah, but Seokmin went home with Dawon today, so it suddenly makes sense that Gunmin and Yuna are spotted together.

But who are the other two people that they’re with? Gunmin noticed the two of them then he pointed at Yugyeom and Jimin, making the two figures turn around –

And viola!

It’s the iconic power couple of last year, 2016, Yeonju and Mingyu. Not that it’s a surprise.

One thing’s for sure, though, it was awkward. Let’s not talk about that meeting again.

***

**Café Nenzo, Meycauayan City, Bulacan. Δ December 17**

Dawon took a sip of coffee from her cup then placed it down on top of the table. It’s almost nine but the programme hasn’t started yet – lots of them are still keeping up with one another. And the emcee *coughs* Chaeyeon, hasn’t arrived yet, either. “When is Chaeng arriving?” She glanced at Yoonoh, who was busy playing Plants vs Zombies 3. “Um, Yoonoh, call her.”

He looked back at her then back to his phone, trying to regain his concentration. “Nah, she’s gonna arrive soon.” He groaned as the gargantour destroyed his wall-nut. “Ah, this is so annoying.”

Yugyeom smirked. “He used to like Plants vs Zombies 2 back then, too.” He poured some more coffee into Dawon’s cup, and he got a glare from Mingyu, to which he noticed. “Why?”

“That is a bad idea, Yugyeom.” Mingyu stopped him before he began pouring more coffee into her cup. “I know you two have been friends since middle school but her love for coffee and the side effects of it gotten crazier in high school.”

“Also during college.” Seokmin added. “We went to the same college and I swear to god, I didn’t like it when she holds a cup of coffee in the morning.”

“Yugyeom liked coffees, too.” A familiar voice, to Yugyeom, resounded across the table as he turned around. Her hair is still not in its natural color, her height is still the same, her smile is still pretty, her British accent is still as thick as it was years ago. “Hey there, everyone.”

“Park Jimin!” Yoonoh and Mingyu threw obvious side glances at Yugyeom before eventually standing up and congratulating her.

“Heard you got promoted. Woah, head accountant Park Jimin!” Yuna stood up and gave her a handshake while Eunbi nodded in agreement to Yuna. “Shouldn’t you be paying?”

“Chengxiao is.” Jimin threw a side glance at Seokmin. “Did you meet her?” She asked.

“Nope, not yet.” He answered nonchalantly, oviously trying not to stir something up –

Too late.

“You still talk to her?” Dawon asked, with obvious curiosity. She’s not trying to hide her feelings, too. Seokmin flinched and was startled. She sounds pissed. Yuna held her down and Eunbi shot a glare at her.

“Dawon!” They chorused.

Dawon’s facial expression then changed 360 degrees. “I was joking.” She laughed, making Seokmin curse at the wind and heave a heavy sigh.

Jimin also sighed. She was not gonna see another Dawon-Chengxiao brawl. Not after years. “Anyway, what were you guys talking about?” She asked as the others sat down after greeting her.

“Your story with Yugyeom.” Eunbi answered.

“Ah.” She glanced at Yugyeom and smiled. “Our story?” She looked back at the group of friends who were staring at the two of them. Jimin was behind Yugyeom, while he was sitting. She rested her arms on the back of the chair Yugyeom was sitting on while he leaned forward. “It was beautiful until it all fell down, right?” She asked him.

He nodded. “Of course it was.”

“You were so  **_torpe_ ** **_[8]_ ** **_”  
_ **

> **_[8] torpe - someone who seems to deny his/her feelings all the time_ **

“And you were so impatient.”

* * *

**Author's Note:**

> [1] Probinsyano - Someone who came from the province.  
> [2] La Sallista - Someone who studies/studied at De La Salle University, one of the most expensive universities in the Philippines.
> 
> \--
> 
> To those who does not know the meaning of TOTGA, it's meant to be a secret... for now.


End file.
